Frustrated by traffic in qualifying, Barrichello started outside the top ten for the first time since Montreal.

Despite opting to run the medium tyres he made an excellent start to run ninth.

But when the safety car came out the team chose not to pit him, feeling the super-soft tyres he would have to switch to would not last the rest of the race distance. They may regret that decision as Sebastien Buemi did just that and, although his times slowed in the final 20 laps, he was not overtaken.

By staying out Barrichello nearly jumped ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa. As it was he spent several laps heading a queue of cars which he fell back into after making his pit stop.

He emerged in 11th behind Michael Schumacher and the former team mates fought bitterly for the final point, Schumacher going to extreme lengths to keep Barrichello behind.

After Barrichello finally squeezed past – despite Schumacher pushing him up to the pit wall, across the pit lane exit and part of the grass – he got on the radio to demand Schumacher’s disqualification. He was even more vehement in his criticism after the race, telling reporters:

If he wants to go to heaven before me ?óÔé¼ÔÇ£ if he goes to heaven, I don?óÔé¼Ôäót know if he goes to heaven. But if he wants to go before me, go up or down, I don?óÔé¼Ôäót want to go before him.Rubens Barrichello

Interesting to note that Williams are rapidly closing the gap on Force India for 6th in the WCC – Williams’ performance upturn seems coupled with a bit of a downturn at FI along with some plain bad luck and some silly mistakes.